Time and Time Again
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Katie Summers, daughter of Buffy and Angel, travels to the past in order to change the future and prevent a full-scale demonic war from being unleashed. To save the future, she has to change the past . . . by preventing her mother's death against Glory.
1. A World at War

**Time and Time Again**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: A World at War

With a grunt, Katherine Summers dove behind a piece of debris, moving into a protective position as a bomb exploded nearby. Coughing as dust and debris flew everywhere, she got to her feet, making sure that the street was safe before she took off at a run, racing as fast as she could, which for Katie was very fast, thanks to her being half-vampire.

"Slayer!"

Glancing over her shoulder, Katie came to a stop, turning around to face the three vamps that were trailing her, lifting her head high and giving them an award winning smile. "All right, guys, let's get this over with, I've got a war to fight here," she told them. One of them growled, his golden eyes fixed upon her, but another one, clearly the leader, raised his hand to stop him and Katie turned her green eyes onto him, wondering not for the first time what they wanted and why they were stopping her from getting back to base.

The leader was tall and muscular with curly blond hair that was plastered to his head. His eyes were dark and there was something about those eyes that seemed familiar, but Katie couldn't put her finger on it. Besides, she didn't have the time to think about familiar vampires. People were getting killed/turned seven days a week. She could have seen him anywhere.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something really familiar about him, something that she should know, but didn't.

One of the fledglings laughed, his golden eyes fixed upon Katie. "I like her," he said through his fangs, turning towards the leader, whose eyes were cool and collected. "Can I please have her? She'll make a tasty meal or even better—" Here, his eyes lit up—"I'll make her one of us. I think I'd like to have her forever."

"Dream on, flyboy," Katie returned, taking a fighting stance. The vamp snarled and moved towards her, but with movements faster and more fluid than the average Slayer and more powerful than an average vampire, Katie sent him flying into a hunk of debris, landing on a piece of wood and he turned to dust.

"All too easy," Katie remarked before turning her green eyes towards the remaining two. "Now, who's next?"

The fledgling ignored his master's order to stay where he was, darting forward and was about to attack her when Katie pulled a stake out of her pocket, jamming it into his heart.

"It's so hard to find good help nowadays," the leader commented, shaking his head at his two dusted vampires. "But on the bright side, at least we're alone, Katherine Summers."

For a moment, she was surprised, but she kept it masked. _Breathe, Katie,_ she told herself. _In and out. Keep your calm, remember. If you lose your head, it might be the last thing that you ever do. _

Keeping her emotions in check and making sure that her voice was completely calm before she spoke, Katie chuckled, surprising the master vampire, because his confident smirk faltered.

"I'm afraid you've got me at a disadvantage," she told him. "You know who I am, but I don't know you."

The smirk was instantly back in place and his dark gaze narrowed slightly. "You don't know me, but you're going to," he assured her. "Because I'm going to be the last thing that you ever see before you die. It'll be a treat, destroying mankind's last hope. The daughter of the legendary Buffy Summers and her vampire lover, the infamous Angelus."

"Angel," Katie snapped, her temper getting the better of her. "My father was Angel, not Angelus."

She was really sick of demons constantly calling her Angelus' daughter, but really, she wasn't. Her father hadn't been the murdering demon that had been known as the Scourge of Europe. She hadn't even met her father's demonic half, because the curse had been permanent by the time that she had been born. Angel, her _real_ father, had been a kind and just man that had done everything in his power to keep his family safe. Often times, it was that kind of self-sacrificing that had driven her mother insane. They had died when she was twelve, when the war first began and Faith, the other Slayer, said that Buffy and Angel being killed was what gave the demons the initiative to begin the war in the first place.

The vampire laughed, his dark eyes actually amused. "Angel, Angelus . . . it really doesn't matter, does it? What does matter is that you're the vampire hybrid, the daughter of the Slayer and the vampire with a soul," he drawled, folding his arms across his chest and smirking at her.

"Let's get this over with," Katie snapped. "I've got things to do, places to be, the world to save, you know the gist."

"Oh, I don't think so." That smirk was really annoying. "I think we're gonna keep playing this awhile longer."

Turning on his heel, he began to walk away, heading away from her and towards the alleyway, pausing briefly. "The name's Nomad," he told her over his shoulder. "I'd suggest that you remember it, Slayer . . . because you're gonna be seeing me a lot. And I assure you that I will be the last thing that you see on this planet."

"We'll just have to see," Katie returned. He chuckled and leaped up on top of the nearly demolished building and vanishing from sight.

Katie watched him go before taking a quick look around to make sure that nothing was coming before she broke into a run, hurrying through the streets and heading straight for the base, praying that nothing had happened while she was gone. Nobody had been killed, nothing had been destroyed, the base was still intact.

Relief flooded through her as she saw the abandoned church up ahead of her. Taking a quick look over her shoulder to make sure that nobody was watching, she hurried up the steps and rapped twice on the cathedral doors, waiting for Patrick to reply.

"Password?" the teenager on the other side whispered.

"We help the helpless," she answered with a small smile. It had been her father's detective agency's motto when he had been here in L.A., fighting demons and saving people. Now, the city that he had defended for so long was in ruins and people were starving and being killed every day. People no longer had the innocence that being normal brought. They knew about demons and worse, they were forced to fight them because the demon army was catastrophic and there weren't enough demon fighters in the world to handle something this big.

The door opened and she slipped inside, looking back at Patrick as he shut the door quickly behind her. Patrick was one of the first orphans from the war, rescued from being slaughtered with a bunch of his orphaned friends and brought here. He, along with so many others, barely knew how to handle the fight and with people being turned every day, the end was looking like it might be all too near.

"Glad you're okay," Patrick said with a shy smile towards her. Katie knew that he had a little bit of a crush on her, despite the fact that she had a boyfriend and was very much in love with Sam.

"Yeah, me too," Katie said with a sigh. "Do you know where Sam, Hope, and Alex are?"

Patrick pointed towards the upper balcony, where she could see the three people she considered her family were talking amongst themselves.

"Thanks," Katie said, hurrying towards the steps and climbing up them as fast as she was able, stopping when she reached her three friends, relief going through her as she saw them alive.

Hope Osborne, the daughter of Oz and Willow Rosenberg-Osborne, was a seventeen-year-old witch with long red hair that fell to her shoulders. She looked a lot like her mother did at that age—at least, she did from the pictures that Katie had seen—but there was more of Oz in her face than there was Willow. But Hope was more than just one of the many powerful witches that they had in the resistance; she was also half-werewolf, which meant that she had to wear an amulet during the full moon to prevent her from becoming a werewolf. But already being part of the supernatural meant that Hope's spells were a lot more powerful than some of her sister witches.

Alex Harris was not just the son of her mom's friend Xander, but his mother was none other than Katie's Aunt Dawn, making the two of them cousins. From the pictures, he was a replica of his father at age seventeen, but he had his mother's bright blue eyes. He and Hope, however, had achieved what his father and her mother had not; they had found their way into each other's arms and into each other's hearts.

Katie smiled as she watched her two best friends holding on to one another before turning towards her own lover, who had stilled the second that she had arrived, his head turning towards her. A smile spread across her face as she looked at him. He was a tall, slightly muscular young man of seventeen, with light brown hair framing his face in a chaotic mess. His blue-grey eyes, which varied in their hues depending on his mood, focused themselves on Katie as she stepped further into the balcony. Those eyes had looked at her when she was fourteen and had really seen her, right down into her soul. He had seen what a burden being the daughter of Buffy Summers and Angel had been and had helped her to carry it, shouldering some of the weight even though it wasn't his burden to carry.

Sam Hilliard was the newest member of their circle, the only one of them that they hadn't known since they were babies, but Hope and Alex had welcomed him in with open arms. All it had taken was the way that he had looked at Katie and the way that Katie had looked at him for them to accept him, despite the fact that Sam was half-demon and his father was serving as a general in the demon army.

But Sam wanted no part of the demonic army and had run away at fourteen to get away from his father. He had chosen to reject his demonic half and found his way to Katie. The two of them had become fast friends and somewhere along the way, love found their way to them.

Standing up quickly, Sam moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her against him. Katie inhaled his scent, her eyes fluttering closed as she held on to her lover. It was only in his arms that she felt safe and protected, like nothing could ever harm her so long as she stayed right there in Sam's arms.

"Did you get it?" Hope asked quickly, effectively destroyed the two lovers' sanctuary. Katie glared at her as Sam slowly pulled away, glancing towards Hope, who blushed. "Sorry . . ."

"Never mind that, did you get it?" Alex repeated his girlfriend's question, his blue eyes anxious.

Katie sighed, knowing that there was no point in trying to scold him; it just blew in one ear and out the other. "Yeah," she answered. "I got it." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small, old-fashioned key hanging on an extremely old chain. Both the chain and key looked as though they might fall apart if someone touched it wrong.

"Great!" Hope grasped it, her dark eyes gleaming with anticipation as she held one hand over it, power emitting from it. "Yes! This is the one!" she said triumphantly. "Okay, this is really it, we're really going to do this. Or I should say, Katie's really going to do this," she added, looking at the Slayer-vampire sheepishly. Katie rolled her eyes. "Look, it's gonna be fine. It'll be no big deal. You go there, you warn your mom about what's gonna happen when she dies and you come back here, no big deal. In twenty-four hours, we'll all be living in a peaceful future. No problem," she said happily.

Katie raised an eyebrow before looking at Sam, who was trying very hard not to smile, and then glanced at Alex, who was looking anywhere but at his cousin or girlfriend. Hope gave an aggravated noise, standing up with her arms crossed, eyes blazing.

"Hey, why don't you all have a little bit of faith in me?" she demanded. "Just because I've messed up a few spells doesn't mean that I am going to send Katie through a one-way ticket through time unless I was absolutely, positively sure that I knew where she was going to land. Now come on, are we going to do this or not?"

"It's not the spell messing up that I'm worried about," Katie responded, shaking her head. "It's the fact that I don't think this is going to be as simple as you're making it sound. Time-travel is risky business and if one little thing goes wrong, then you could screw up the entire future."

Sam chuckled weakly, wrapping his arms around her. "That's my girl," he said brightly. "Always jumping to the worst possible conclusion."

Katie shot a look at him and he grinned sheepishly at her. She sighed, shaking her head. "You are impossible, you know that?" she complained. "And this sucks, I can't even get mad at you for very long." Hope and Alex laughed. "Fine, let's do this, but before we do, I should probably warn you guys, there's a new vampire hanging around."

"Yeah?" Alex deadpanned. "So what else is new?"

"There was something different about this one," Katie told him. "Something . . . powerful and strange. His name's Nomad."

"What did he want?" Sam asked, his blue-grey eyes reflecting the worry within him.

Not wanting to worry him more, but knowing that he would pick out the lie of her words if she tried, Katie decided just to go with the truth. They needed to know, anyway. "Apparently . . . me," she answered, heaving a sigh. "Dead," she added to clarify.

"Again, how's that different from any other demon of any other day?" Alex pointed out. All three of them looked at him and he held up his hands to pacify them. "Just making a point."

"Yeah," Katie sighed. "And the scary thing is that you're actually right, but we'll talk about that one later. Right now, we've got a spell to do. Hope, what do we need to do?"

--

Hours later, when they were in the vicinity of their room, Hope was sprinkling magical dust over the key, which was glowing as the power absorbed it. The glow began to brighten further and further until at long last, the key shuddered and light shone over it, transforming it into a very old key into a very powerful magical tool.

Beads of sweat were on Hope's forehead as she turned towards Katie, handing the key over to her. "Okay, all you need to do to use this is say the words _Tempus peregrinari actuousys_," she said, saying the Latin words slowly and clearly. Katie had to say the words half a dozen times until she was satisfied. "Here, I've wrote it down in case you forget. Once you say the words, concentrate on when you want to go, the _exact _date and the portal will open. Step into the portal and you'll be sent to the date that you want to go to. Or possibly, you'll be blown to pieces," she added. Katie, Sam, and Alex stared at her. "What? It's not an exact science."

Heaving a sigh, Katie looked towards her lover, grasping his hand as he pulled her closer. Hope and Alex were tactful enough to move themselves into a corner, giving them a little bit of privacy to say goodbye. "I don't want to go," she whispered painfully. "I don't want to leave you."

"You never will," Sam promised her. "No matter what happens, no matter what the new future is like, I will find a way to you. You and I are soul mates, Katie, and that's what counts. We'll always find our way to each other. Just remember that." He pulled her into a kiss, filled with passion and longing and hope and Katie had to stop herself from crying. When they pulled apart, he cupped her face tenderly. "We will find our way back to each other, Katie. I promise," he added fiercely. "I love you."

"I love you," she whispered, pressing her forehead against his for one last moment that seemed altogether too short. With a small sniffle, she looked back at her friends, hugging both of them. "I love you guys. Stay safe, okay?" she whispered before they took a step back from her. All four of them were crying, tears streaming down their faces.

Knowing if she didn't do this now, then she would never go, Katie raised the key to the sky and concentrated on the date she wanted to go to as she said firmly, "_Tempus peregrinari actuousys._"

The portal opened up behind them and Katie stared into the blue and white portal with trepidation. Not daring to risk looking back at them, Katie walked into the portal more boldly than she felt and the second that she entered into it, she was sure that she was going to be sick and it was all that she could do to hold her breath and pray that she wasn't going to be sick at least until she landed.

She was flung into a very tight tube that felt too small to hold her. Colours swirled around her in a mixture of different tints and Katie could barely even recognise them, they were moving so fast. Finally, she closed her eyes to block out the sight, hoping very much that she was going to land soon, because she really did think she might be sick.

After what felt like forever, Katie felt herself being flung out of the portal and landed in a heap onto the floor of the same cathedral that would be the headquarters for the resistance in the future. Groaning slightly and massaging her head, Katie looked around, slowly getting to her feet.

Hearing the sound of running feet, no doubt alerted by her noisy arrival, Katie hurried to the window, unbolting it all too easily and slid out the window, landing in the rose bushes outside of the window.

Used to the future and being attacked every few feet until she found safe cover, Katie took off at a run, not stopping until she realised that nobody was coming after her. Slowing to a stop, Katie looked around her and saw a newspaper stand.

Walking towards it carefully, she picked up the newspaper and checked the date to make sure. "December 19th," she said in relief, silently thanking the Powers for making sure she got to where she was supposed to be.

Setting the paper back down, she looked towards the vendor, who was busy guzzling down a beer. "Excuse me," she said. "But can you tell me where the Hyperion Hotel is?"

"Sure," he said drunkenly. "Go down that street then turn left. Go down about two blocks, turn right and it'll be on your left. You can't miss it."

"Thanks." Katie took off at a run, ignoring the scandalised people around her as she raced towards the Hyperion Hotel.

Where her father, Angel O'Conner, lived and worked.


	2. Stopping a Massacre

**Time and Time Again**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Stopping a Massacre

Katie stared up at the Hyperion Hotel where she had spent the first twelve years of her life, where she had been born and raised with Alex and Hope, where her parents had fought and worked together. Biting her lip, Katie inhaled slightly before she forced herself to take a step towards the door, moving up the stairs and pulling the door open, stepping into the lobby.

It looked exactly the way that she remembered it, just as nostalgic and beautiful as it always had been. Katie smiled slightly, brushing a strand of her brown hair behind her ear as she looked around the lobby again, searching for any sign of her father.

"Hi!" A dark-haired girl suddenly appeared right in front of her, her smile spreading across her face eagerly. "Welcome to Angel Investigations! What can we do for you? Demon, ghost, vampire? As long as you've got the cash, we'll be happy to work for you!"

A small chuckle escaped from Katie as she realised who this girl was. "Uh . . . you're Cordelia, right?" she guessed. Cordelia blinked in surprise, but nodded. "Man, Dad didn't exaggerate," she mumbled. "Uh . . . actually, I'm just looking for my—I'm looking for Angel," she corrected automatically, catching the near-slip of the tongue.

Automatically, a wary look crossed her face and she folded her arms across her chest suspiciously.

"Well, he's not here right now," she replied, her tone clicked and her expression fixed intently upon Katie. Thankfully, she was used to being analysed by people and kept her expression completely neutral. "And I don't know when he's going to be back, so is there maybe something that we could help you with?"

"Actually, I'm trying to help him," Katie said, heaving a sigh. "And hopefully the rest of the world. It's a long story," she said as Cordelia's eyebrows hitched in completely confusion.

"Well, you'd better start explaining, because I'm not telling you where he is until you do."

"Really like to, but I don't want to have to explain this fifty times," Katie said with a shrug. "Besides, I think he's the one who should be hearing this first, not you. No offence," she added, "but seeing as how it directly involves him, in more ways than one," she muttered, "I think he should be the first one to hear it, so here's the deal. Angel's about to do something really stupid that he is going to regret later. Now you can either help him by helping me or you could just be stubborn, which means I'll leave here and try and find him on my own. Of course, finding him on my own will take a whole lot longer, which means that I could possibly not make it there on time, thus completing the whole 'he's gonna do something's he's gonna regret' scenario." Katie folded her arms across her chest, raising her eyebrows. "So, which one is going to be? Are you going to be stubborn or are you going to help me out here?"

Cordelia sighed, studying her for a long moment, considering, meeting Katie's green eyes evenly. "I don't know where's he's at," she finally said. "But he was heading for Wolfram and Hart."

Leaning her head back, Katie shook her head. "Great," she muttered. "That's the last place that I want to be right now. Thanks," she said before she turned and headed out of the hotel, racing down the street as fast as she could, plunging into her vampiric speed towards the law firm that had caused so much trouble for her father.

It was about halfway there when she saw them, the two people that she would rather eat liver than actually talk to.

Actually, she only recognised Drusilla, as Darla had already been dead by the time that she had been born, but her mother had described her pretty well. Short and blonde . . . oh, and the fact that she was in vamp face didn't help matters much.

Katie ducked behind a building before poking her head out to keep an eye on them, hoping very much that they didn't recognise her. "Okay, new plan," she muttered to herself. "Follow those two, lead to that moron's house, get inside and wait for Dad, stop him from locking those two in a room with a bunch of lawyers and somehow convince him that I'm from the future and that I'm his daughter. With Mom," she added dryly, shaking her head towards the heavens. "I'm an idiot to think that I was able to pull this out."

Making sure that Darla and Drusilla were out of sight enough, Katie climbed up on top of the buildings, darting across the rooftops and jumping between them, following the vampire girls as they left the shops and stores that they were wreaking havoc on before they changed their direction and was heading towards one of the wealthy houses.

Katie's heart was pounding in her chest as she jumped back down onto the ground, landing on her feet, and jumped behind some trashcans.

Darla turned around sharply, almost as if she had smelled or heard Katie—or maybe she even sensed her, considering that Katie was half-Slayer. But maybe she thought it was her imagination or maybe she simply didn't care, wanted another challenge, because she just shook her head and continued on her way, leaving Katie to poke her head out from behind the trashcans and followed them up towards the house.

Instead of going to the front door, Katie climbed up the side of the house, slipping into the upstairs window, which said more about her breaking and entering skills than anything else.

Pulling a lock pick out of her pocket, Katie navigated it into the window and popped the window open, darting inside and closing the window.

"So, this is how the other half lives," she muttered, glancing around her as she tossed a sheet of her hair back and headed downstairs.

There was some kind of party going on, she noticed as she kept herself firmly latched within the shadows as she watched the partygoers heading down into the parlour, all of them chatting and laughing, a few of them halfway drunk by the quart of wine they were having. Katie winced, remembering her, Alex, and Hope's first experience getting drunk. _That_ hadn't been fun.

And hanging out in the old abandoned farmhouse where they chosen to thrown up in, unable to go home because Alex was passed out was even less fun.

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Katie gulped and pushed herself out of view as Darla and Drusilla appeared. Her heart was racing in her chest, but she prayed that they couldn't hear it or smell or her or anything that would even remotely give away her location. She really wished that she had brought Sam with her; he was good in a crisis.

When she was sure that they were gone, Katie poked her head from behind the banister again. Sure enough, the two vampires were gone. Katie checked carefully to make sure that they weren't hiding out somewhere, but she couldn't even sense them. Letting out a slow breath, Katie got to her feet and moved out of hiding, taking careful steps down, heading directly for the parlour.

"I love this room," Darla was saying, a sadistic smile on her face as Katie moved closer to the parlour. "Dru, honey, in our new digs, we have to put in a people cellar."

"Assuming that you're gonna last that long," Katie spoke up, alerting everyone to her presence. Darla turned around suddenly, her eyes fastening on Katie as she moved into view, standing in the doorway of the parlour.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

Drusilla gave a small giggle. "Little sister's come to play," she said, clapping her hands in delight. Darla's head turned towards the dark-haired vampire as Katie felt a tremor go through her. She had forgotten about Drusilla's visions, her ability to see the future. "Come to stop Daddy, come to change it all . . ."

Darla cocked her head, turning back at Katie, the distasteful look on her face. "Don't tell me, you're one of Angelus' children."

"Do I _smell_ like a vampire to you?" Katie demanded, arching her eyebrows incredulously. She was hoping that her unpredictable mixed blood might buy her some time and keep them occupied.

"No, you don't," the blonde agreed as Katie stepped further into the parlour. "No . . . I haven't smelled this fragrance before. . . . You're human, but . . . but you're something else as well . . ."

"Yeah, I'm the Slayer," Katie said dryly, folding her arms across her chest and sporting an award-winning smile. Well, that wasn't far from the truth, she reasoned. Being the daughter of one gave her as much of the Slayer powers as being the daughter of a vampire gave her vampiric powers.

A laugh escaped from Darla as she surveyed Katie. "You're not a Slayer," she said, arching her eyebrows. "I know Slayers. No, you're something completely different . . . completely new."

Drusilla giggled. "Come dance with us, little sister," she said playfully, holding her arms out to Katie, who shrugged, reaching into her back pocket and withdrawing a stake.

"Okay," she said cheerfully. "I'll play."

Darla growled as she and Katie circled on another, neither one of them backing down as they all heard footsteps coming down, causing the two women to stop where they were.

"Daddy's here," Drusilla said joyfully. Katie's head whipped around to look at one of the two people that she had never expected nor anticipated that she would ever see again.

Angel O'Connor stepped into view at the top of the stairs, his brown eyes sweeping over the room, colliding with Katie's green ones and he still, staring at her with a frown on his face, confusion flickering across it. Darla didn't seem to notice the exchange between future father and future daughter as she turned towards him, smirking.

"Angelus," she said, tossing a sheet of her blonde hair behind her. "Here for the tasting?"

"Look what we have for you," Drusilla said happily, but Angel didn't even react. Katie's green eyes flickered between her father, his sire, and his childe, knowing already what was going to happen, but knowing that she had to stop this. She knew how heavily the guilt of what had happened had weighed down upon her father. "It's not Daddy. It's never Daddy." Drusilla hissed. "It's the Angel-beast."

"Come to punish us?"

"No, that's my job," Katie said darkly, drawing Darla's attention back to her. "Come on, Darla, or are you really afraid that you might get beaten by a little human girl?"

Darla growled through her fangs, circling around Katie again, who moved into position. Automatically, the lawyers backed up, the fear evident in their faces. "You're dead, little girl."

"Funny," Katie returned. "You would have thought that I'd have stopped walking around."

As though she had reached across and smacked Darla to provoke her, the blonde reacted, lunging at Katie, who fought back just as efficiently as she with any other demon and vamp that she had back in the future. The two women circled around each other, hitting each other with as much proficiency as they possessed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father moving towards them, not sure who he was going to help, but that one second of distraction caused Darla to gain the upper hand. Katie grunted as she hit the ground, the stake flying out of her hand as she fell.

Just as Darla was about to move towards her again, to deliver the final blow, Katie heard a familiar growl and looked up.

Angel had caught the stake she had dropped and plunged it into Darla's heart. She looked up at him in shock and disbelief, her golden eyes flashing back to blue as she whispered, "Angelus?" Then she turned into dust, crumbling onto the floor in front of them.

Katie got to her feet, looking back at the place where Darla had stood only a moment ago, before looking at Angel, standing where he had staked Darla, the stake in hand, unable to believe what he had just done. Drusilla gave a scream of anguish before she darted from the room, howling things that Katie neither heard nor understood.

"Thanks," she said, looking up at Angel, who gave a small nod before glancing at the lawyers.

"Don't bring her back," he warned them. "Or next time, there might not be somebody to save you." Holland Manners nodded once, his eyes fixed upon Katie with something of fascination as she glanced towards them, then headed towards Angel.

"We need to talk," she whispered to him. "Just not here." He nodded once, something flickering across his face, as he gestured for her to follow him out to the driveway, where the black Plymouth was sitting. It was years younger than she had seen it, but just as workable as it was when she had inherited it.

Of course, she couldn't exactly drive it around anymore. Not to mention, her driving capabilities left much to be desired.

Climbing into the passenger's seat, Katie glanced sideways at her father as he pulled out of the driveway, navigating through the streets of Los Angeles, heading for the hotel. She glanced down at her hands, using the silence to try and work out what exactly she was going to say to him.

"Who are you?" Angel finally asked, as he looked at her suddenly. She glanced up. "What are you? How'd you know where Darla and Dru would be?"

Katie gave a small sigh, running her hand through her brown locks. "My name's Katherine," she said finally. "Katie, actually. I only get called Katherine when I'm in trouble." A small smile tugged across his face. "I knew where Darla and Drusilla were gonna be because I followed them. As for what I am . . . can we wait until we get to the hotel? I'd rather not have to explain this fifty times."

Angel sighed. "Fair enough. I don't suppose that you can give me a last name?"

"I promise, I'll explain everything," Katie assured him. "But I don't want to go over this again and again. I'm still trying to work out how exactly I'm going to explain this only once."

"Could you tell me anything?" he persisted.

Giving him a small smile, Katie considered. "All right, I'll give you this little titbit," she said brightly. Angel waited expectantly and she was really glad that they were at a stoplight, because she was sure that he would have slammed on the breaks if they were driving.

"I'm from the future."


	3. Tales of the Future

**Time and Time Again**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Tales of the Future

As she sat on the front desk with her hands lying between her knees, Katie listened as her father recounted the happenings of that night to Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn. It was strange to be sitting around, watching people that had been dead for her entire life be walking around and talking. It felt like some bizarre dream, Katie mused as the story came to a close and Cordelia shook her head in disbelief.

"So . . . it's over, then?" she asked. "I mean, Darla's really gone this time?"

"Hopefully," Katie muttered, bringing all of the attention back to her and she found herself staring at four pairs of curious eyes. She blushed. "Sorry, I'll just wait until you're finished."

"Actually, I think that pretty much covers it," Angel replied, folding his arms across his chest and fixing her with a stare. Katie met his familiar brown eyes and swallowed. She still hadn't figured out how exactly she was going to explain all of this. "And I think you have some explaining to do."

"Yeah, who exactly are you, anyway?" Cordelia demanded, turning towards her now. "And what was the stupid decision that you were talking about earlier that you were trying to stop Angel from doing?"

"Stupid decision?" Angel echoed, bewildered.

Cordelia glanced at him. "She came in here about an hour ago, demanding to know where you were and said that you were about to make a really stupid decision that you were gonna regret later that she was here to help you," she explained before turning back to Katie. "Now that the danger is over with, could you please explain who you are?"

"Her name's Katie," Angel explained for her, his gaze still fastened upon her. "And apparently, she's from the future."

Katie chuckled nervously as all of them stared at her now. "Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it," she agreed. "Um . . . why don't you guys sit down, because it's kind of a whole thing and it's gonna take a little while to explain."

"So you just came all the way from the future to stop Angel from doing what exactly?"

"Locking Darla and Drusilla up with those lawyers," Katie said, inspecting her nails carefully. She looked up to see the guilty expression on Angel's face; clearly, he had already been considering it and would have carried out the idea if she hadn't intervened. "But no, that's not why I came all the way from the future. It has to do with something else. A lot of really bad things are happening in the future and I need your guys' help to fix it."

"What kinds of things?" Wesley questioned. Katie sighed, running a hand through her brown hair as she jumped off of the counter, landing easily on her feet and wrapped her arms around herself, choosing her words very carefully before she spoke.

"Just picture this," she said softly, "a world full of chaos, of destruction. Buildings are little more than rubble, people are starving, fighting for their lives, demons run free, and every day, you hear of more death, more destruction, someone else being taken by the demonic forces.

"That's what the future's like. In twenty or so years, that's what the world has become. No one is safe; no one can even step outside their front door without being attacked. It's all that you can do is keep your family with you and hope that you won't be the next target. Against the demon army, there's a rebellion, a group of fighters, both human and supernatural, that resist and strike back. I'm one of those rebels and I've been sent back to change the past so that we might be able to change the future."

"But how did this happen?" Wesley whispered, looking stricken. Angel's expression was tormented, horrified. "Why didn't anybody stop it?"

"Because it couldn't be stopped," Katie said with a sigh. "The demons took over because of things that will happen in the very near future. If I can prevent that event from happening, then we have a very good chance of actually preventing my future. It's our only hope."

"Wait a second, what events led up to your future?" Angel asked slowly. "How were demons able to gain the upper hand?"

"Because the First was released," Katie answered, meeting his eyes evenly. If it were possible, then he went paler than his usual vampiric pale. "You remember the First, don't you?"

"The first what?" Gunn asked.

"The First Evil," Katie answered, turning her head towards him. "It's stronger than anything and everything that anybody's ever faced and it can't truly be defeated."

"Why did it come back?" Angel whispered, shaken.

Katie swallowed and for the first time since she had begun her story, she hesitated, looking down.

"Hey," he said sharply, moving from his rigid position and walking over to her. "If you expect us to be able to help, if you expect us to even believe your story, then you're going to have to tell us everything. We can't really do everything if we don't have all the facts."

"Angel," Wesley said and there was a warning tone in his voice. Katie shook her head at the former Watcher, never removing her gaze from her father's face.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," she told him flatly. "I just know how much this is gonna hurt you. It's for your benefit, not mine, that I don't want to tell you everything."

The ensouled vampire's expression softened slightly and he relinquished his guard. "Sorry."

Katie shook her head, hating to do this to him, but knowing that he had to know. Her father hated talking about either one of her mother's "deaths." Angel and Buffy were and would always be soul mates and her death had sent him into the brink of despair that no one ever really understood. It was only after she met Sam that Katie really understood the depths of her parents' relationship.

"It's okay," she assured him. "What happened was . . . do you know what's happening in Sunnydale right now?" she asked. Angel blinked, startled, and shook his head. "Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm not even sure if Buffy knows exactly what she's dealing with right now, but you know Dawn?"

"Buffy's sister Dawn?" he questioned. She nodded. "Yeah, of course, what about her?"

"Buffy doesn't really have a sister. Dawn is this key, this green energy that a bunch of monks turned into a girl and sent to her. They changed everybody's memories so it was like Dawn had always been there. You see, they knew that she had to be protected from Glory. I'll explain about Glory in a minute," she assured him. "But they knew that Glory was coming from them and the key, so they transformed it into Dawn and sent it to Buffy, knowing that she would protect Dawn. They figured that the safest way was for her to be in the form of a sister. So they rebuilt everybody's memories—everybody who had been in contact with Buffy and her friends, anybody who had ever known Buffy and her family. Anybody who could have even tipped off Buffy, their memories were changed to include Dawn in them. In your guys' real memories, you haven't even met Dawn. She wasn't there until just a few months ago.

"Glory is a god from a hell dimension. She ruled there with two other gods, who became afraid of her power and so they banished her and she was reborn as a human. Or a god who shares her body with a human," Katie added, frowning slightly. "I'm not really sure about the details, but Dawn is the key that will get her back home. And she wants to get back home more than anything else. So for her to do that, she has to find the key. And the key is Dawn. Everybody with me so far?" Katie asked, looking around. They all nodded. "About next May, Glory will find out who Dawn is, kidnap her, and use her blood in a ritual to open the gateway. The gateway not only opens the door to Glory's dimension, but to every single dimension in the universe. They spill into one another, which would eventually lead to the destruction of the universe. But the key could close doors as well as open them. Dawn's blood would close the door just as it opened it. But she would have to sacrifice her life to do it. And Buffy won't let her, so . . ."

"So . . ." Angel prompted her, the fear evident in his eyes as he listened to what was going to happen to his soul mate. Katie looked up at her father, not wanting to be the one to tell him this, but knowing that the tale had to be told if it were to be prevented.

"So, she sacrificed herself for Dawn," Katie said quietly, looking down. "Her blood is the same as Buffy's. The monks made Dawn out of her. And so, Buffy threw herself into the portal, thus closing it and saving the world—the universe," she added quietly.

Angel had gone ghost white and he was gripping the counter so hard that Katie thought that it might shatter. "She died?"

Katie nodded, her throat closing as she blinked back tears, trying very hard not to cry as she watched Angel fall to his knees. Automatically, she moved to him, wrapping her arms around his neck like she had so many times when she was a child, comforting him as he had done for her.

The second that she hugged her father, the memories came flooding back of her childhood in this place. The hours in the garden, playing football . . . him reading one of the classics to her as she drifted up to sleep . . . him coming into her room when she had woken up from a nightmare. Katie had a hard time forcing herself not to cry as she held her father.

"It was Buffy's death that caused all of this to happen?" Wesley asked, interrupting. She looked up at him, her eyes bright. "It was because she died that was the cause of the demons' uprising?"

Katie managed a weak laugh, shaking her head. "No," she answered, her voice faint. "No, it wasn't her dying that was the cause . . . it was being brought back that caused it."

Everyone gave a start and Angel's head shot up. Katie took several deep breaths, trying to regain her composure as she stood up, pacing back and forth across the lobby. "Willow . . . she's been getting super powerful in the magics . . . especially in the dark arts and . . . well, she and the others thought that she was in a hell dimension . . . like you were," she said, looking at Angel now, sadly.

Her words caused him to jump to his feet. "Are they out of their minds?" he exploded, his human guise turning instantly to his vampiric one. "Buffy's the Slayer, a warrior for the Powers! Warriors for the Powers go to—" Katie looked up at him pointedly. "Heaven . . ." he whispered. "Oh, god . . ."

"They pulled her out of heaven, causing her to wake up in her own coffin and she had to bust out," she said grimly. "It took her years to be able to come to terms with that. But her being brought back caused an imbalance of power and it was that imbalance that allowed the First to return and be able to gain the upper hand."

She looked at Angel, still in his vampire face, and whispered, "I don't want her to die, okay? That's the last thing that I want. I came here to stop her death, not her resurrection."

His face shifted back then and he took a step towards her, really looking at her for the first time, straight into her green eyes.

"I believe you," he said finally. "But I still have some questions that need to be answered."

Katie nodded expectantly; she had expected no less from her father. "Okay, yeah, sure, I'll answer anything that I can, but there might be some things that I can't explain."

"Do your best. How come Buffy or I didn't come back here? Why did you come instead of someone that we know?"

Of all the questions, that wasn't the one that she had expected. "Well, you couldn't exactly do that," she said awkwardly. He gave her a look. "Time travel thing? Aren't you not supposed to meet your other self and cause disruption in the space time continuum?" Angel gave her another long look. "And because everybody in the Scooby Gang and A.I. are dead, okay? The only two people that are alive are Faith and Spike and we couldn't get hold of them."

"Faith and Spike are the only ones still alive?" Cordelia said incredulously.

Katie nodded quietly. "Faith always said that it was because you and M—you and Buffy died that the First was able to gain control," she told Angel, who was stricken, slowly sinking back down onto the funny round couch that sat in the middle of the lobby.

She wringed her hands nervously as her father tried to process everything that had happened tonight and everything that had just been revealed to him.

"And . . . when exactly do you come from the future?" he asked her. "How many years?"

"Um . . ." Katie did a quick calculation in her head. "Twenty years," she answered after a minute. They had long last track of the days and months back home. "This is about four years before I was born."

Angel nodded slowly, still staring at her pensively, his face twisted into the familiar brooding expression. "And who are you?" he asked finally. "You said you would explain everything. So who are you?"

Katie felt her heartbeat increase as she heard the question that she had been expecting all night. Now that the time had come to finally tell her father who she was, that he was his future daughter, she felt her bravado start to fail her, slither into the shadows.

Her breath trembled slightly as she looked at him, slightly afraid of what would happen if she told him. Would he say he didn't want her? Did he not want to get back with her mother? Would she disappear into nothing, vanish forever, cease to exist?

"Katie," he said firmly and she didn't mistake the tone. She had heard it all too often when she was in trouble.

"My name is Katherine," she said finally, her voice shaking ever so slightly as she spoke.

He let out a sigh of aggravation. "Yeah, you said that, but that doesn't tell me any—"

"Like your sister's name?" she cut across him, looking at him pointedly. "Katherine? Kathy?" He looked startled and bemused, staring at her with complete shock. "That's how I got my name."

Angel swallowed, not even blinking. "Who are you?" he whispered.

"Katherine Elizabeth Summers," she whispered, using her full name. Her father sucked in his unneeded breath sharply. "I'm your daughter."


	4. Father and Daughter

**Time and Time Again**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: Father and Daughter

The silence that fell down upon them was deafening. Not a single sound could be plucked out of the lobby, save for the cars that were going by outside and the crickets coming from the gardens. If someone had dropped a pen, it would've sounded like a bomb. Every so often, someone would open their mouth as though to say something, but apparently couldn't think of anything to say, because they closed it too quickly.

It was Cordelia who finally broke the silence, causing everyone in the vicinity to jump at the shattered silence. "Sorry, could you maybe repeat that one more time?" she requested.

Katie cocked an eyebrow from where she was standing next to the desk. "What exactly was unclear?"

"The part where you said that you were Angel's kid," she replied, folding her arms across her chest, looking completely bewildered. Angel himself hadn't moved from where he had been standing when Katie had revealed the secret that was her heritage. He looked like a statue, just staring at her as though he had never seen anything quite like her. "I mean, you couldn't be, because . . . because it's just not possible. Wesley, back me up here, it's not possible, right?" she demanded, whirling around to look at the ex-Watcher, who hesitated, choosing his words carefully before he spoke.

"Well, no . . . no, it's not possible, but . . ."

"But what?" Cordelia demanded, throwing up her hands. "Are you telling me that we're just going to believe Future Girl over here just because she shows up with this whole sad story about how horrible the future's gonna be and wants to completely change it? Am I the only one seeing sense? Vampires can't have children, am I right?"

"No," Katie said, shaking her head. "Are you telling me that you have never once heard of dhampirs?"

The blank look that Cordelia gave her told her the answer to that question and Katie sighed. "Dhampirs are half-vampire children that are born to a human mother. It can't work with two vampires for instance or with a human father. It only works with a male vampire and a female human—or Slayer, in my case," she amended.

"They're only a legend," Wesley said automatically. "There's never actually been proof—at least, that the Watchers' Council knows about—that dhampirs actually exist."

Katie gave him a nice smile. "You're looking at the proof," she told him, her eyes looking back to her father, who hadn't moved out of his frozen position, just staring right at her like he hadn't really understood what she had just told him. "Dad?" she whispered, using the precious word that she hadn't been able to use since she was twelve.

She had been twelve and she still remembered when she had stumbled upon her dead parents. Her mother, lying bloody in the middle of the battlefield with a pile of ashes that left no doubt in anybody's mind that it was the remains of her father. Especially since there was a Claddagh ring lying right next to it, her father's Claddagh ring.

Angel jolted as though he had been electrocuted when she called him that and he stumbled, steadying himself carefully as he continued to stare at her, his brown eyes still wide and shocked and his face still paler than his usual vampiric pale. Katie swallowed, biting her lip as she stared at him, her breath quavering.

"Daddy?" she whispered, anxiety starting to rise through her. What if he decided that he didn't want her? What if he decided that he didn't want to have a daughter? What if decided not to get back together with her mother? Granted, that wasn't supposed to happen for years, but still . . . what if it never happened? Then she'd never be born . . .

As her body began to tremble with trepidation and anxiety, her father slowly began to move, taking a hesitant step towards her, so slow that she felt like he was moving in slow motion. After what felt like an eternity, Angel was standing right in front of her, his eyes filled with tears. Tears of sadness, tears of joy? Katie had no way of knowing as she just stared up at him as his hand reached out for her, finally touching her cheek and he lifting her chin so he could look at her more closely.

What he was searching for, Katie didn't know, but the disbelief in his eyes began to fade away and astonishment began to take its place.

"My god," he breathed, finally looking at her in the eyes. "Your eyes . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Katie said with a trace of sarcasm. "I've got my mother's eyes." She managed a small, weak smile at him. "You don't know how many times I've heard that. Gets a bit tiring after awhile."

Angel chuckled as the first true smile that she had seen on him since she had gotten here spread across her face.

"I don't believe it," he whispered, still staring at her right in the face. "It couldn't be possible, but . . . you're here, you're real." He chuckled again, shaking his head in complete disbelief. "You really are my daughter," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "Mine and . . . mine and Buffy's." Angel said her name as though one would their deity. "You're our daughter."

Katie nodded, tears starting to fall down her cheeks as Angel pulled her into a tight hug and she held him back. She'd never thought that she would be here again, in her father's protective arms, where no evil could ever get to her, try as it may.

"Daddy," she whispered, burying her face into his coat and sobs racked her body as she let the tears that she had been holding back for five years, ever since the war had started, finally break through. And he held her, comforted her, as only a father could.

Wesley, Gunn, even Cordelia must have been tactful enough to leave, because when her tears had finally subsided, none of them were anywhere to be seen, having left father and daughter alone in the room.

Katie brushed her tears away, a small, weak chuckle escaping from her as she looked up at Angel, whose expression still mirrored one of complete shock, as though he weren't sure as this were entirely real. "Sorry," she apologised.

"It's okay," he assured her. "Really, it's okay. It's just . . . I can't believe that this is really happening."

With a nod, Katie looked down at her shoes, then back up at her father. "Believe me, I know. You don't know how strange it is to be talking to you—and Mom, when I see her."

"Buffy . . ." he whispered, shaking his head, running his hand through his already messy hair, pacing back and forth across the lobby floor, trying to think. "She is really going to freak out when she hears this. I should call her," he said suddenly, alarm going through him. "She needs to know what's going on, Katie, with you and Glory."

"And tell her what, exactly, Dad?" Katie demanded as his hand reached for the phone. He paused, hesitating. "That your future daughter is here, trying to prevent her death against Glory? Even if she were to believe you, it's not exactly the kind of thing that you tell someone over the phone. And even if it were, we need to get to Sunnydale to help Mom protect Aunt Dawn and stop Glory from kidnapping her."

"Right . . ." Angel said distractedly. He released a sigh. "You're right. I just . . . this is unreal."

Katie managed a small smile. "Believe me, I get the surreal part of it, Dad," she assured him. He chuckled slightly, shaking his head, a grin spreading across his face again.

"I don't think that I'm ever going to get used to that," he mused. "Someone calling _me_ Dad and meaning their biological father, not just their creator." He shook his head. "Do—do you have any brothers or sisters or is it just you?"

"It's just me," Katie admitted, looking mournful. "I always wanted brothers and sisters, but Mom wasn't willing to bring any more kids into a world that was already being torn apart by war."

"That sounds like Buffy," he said softly, his expression softening at the mention of his soul mate. "Can you tell me anything else or is it too risky?"

Katie smiled mysteriously as she sat down on the couch, giving him an impish smile. "What do you want to know?" she questioned.

It was hours into the night that they stayed up talking about everything and anything underneath the sun, about what her favourite colours were, about her friends, her love life—he hadn't been thrilled when she told him that her boyfriend was a demon, but when she told him about Sam and what he'd done to get away from his father, he relented, admitting that Sam seemed like a nice enough guy. They had just gotten into the subject of Alex and Hope when Angel noticed her hiding a yawn behind her hand and stopped.

"We can talk more tomorrow," he told her reassuringly. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

Apparently, she was more tired than she had thought, because the moment that her head hit the pillow, she was out. She had forgotten just how soft a real bed was and it sent her into a deeper sleep than she was used to and by the time that she woke up, she could smell her father's cooking coming from downstairs.

For a moment, she forgot where she was and was instantly on her feet, wide-awake and alert as her eyes found her surroundings and she slowly let out a breath as everything came rushing back. She was in the past and her father knew everything.

Katie let out a slow sigh, visibly relaxing as she found some fresh clothes lying on the chair next to the bed, picking them up curiously. They looked like they might be a little big on her, but they were clean.

With a small smile, Katie headed into the bathroom, stepping into the shower and letting the water rush everything off of her. The war, the famine, the daily fighting, the hundreds of people getting plucked off of the street, the fear of losing the few people that were left that she cared about . . . all of slipped away and moved down the drain, but was replaced with the fear that she might fail in her mission. She could fail and then there was nothing to stop the future that was headed their way.

When she finished showering, Katie stepped out, drying herself, and quickly donning the clothes that she had found and headed downstairs to find Angel Investigations already in the kitchen, talking quietly until she cleared her throat to announce her presence.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Angel teased and Katie chuckled, giving her father a sideways grin.

"How long was I out?"

"About sixteen hours," he answered, shrugging. Katie's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "I figured that you needed the sleep. I was just about to come and wake you. Are you . . ." He paused, looking at her quickly. "You _do_ eat, right?" he wanted to know.

Katie snorted. "Yes, Dad, I eat regular food," she assured him. They had never tested her feeding off of blood and Katie had never particularly wanted to, not wanting to know what the side effects would be if she did.

"Good." Angel sounded pleased as he set a plate of food in front of her. "Then eat up."

As she ate, Katie could feel every single one of the A.I. members watching her every move. Suppressing a sigh, she glanced at them. "You guys can look at me all you want and it's not going to change anything," she informed them. Angel chuckled and she shook her head, turning at him. "So, when we leaving?"

"Leaving?" Cordelia echoed, her eyebrows shooting up. "Leaving for where?"

"Sunnydale," Angel answered, looking around at his team. "Look, we all heard Katie's story and we need to do whatever's possible to prevent her future from happening. The only way that that's gonna happen is if we stop Buffy's death from happening."

"And we can't very well do that here in L.A.," Katie said with a sigh. "And I can't do this on my own; I need your help."

"Look," Angel said, holding up his hands before any of them could say anything. "I know how badly I've been messing things up lately and I'm really sorry for that. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. And if you don't want to come with us to Sunnydale, then I'll understand. But it's Buffy," he said softly. "And more importantly, it's saving the future from becoming completely decimated. Anybody who wants to stay here can; I won't force you to go."

Wesley, Cordelia, and Gunn all looked around at each other, then towards Angel again. Wesley stood up.

"Buffy may not be my Slayer anymore, but I do care about what happens to her," he said, his tone extremely sympathetic. "And more importantly, she means a great deal to you, my friend. And more important than that, I do not want to see this future that you come from, Katie. I will do anything that I can to prevent it."

"So will I," Gunn chimed it. "Besides, if Sunnydale is anything like you three say it is, it sounds like it's worth checking out." Katie grinned at him before she looked at Cordelia.

"Cordy?" Angel prompted.

She sighed, glancing at him, then at Katie. "And here we go, off to save Miss Slays a Lot," she complained, shaking her head before getting to her feet, looking at Angel straight in the eye. "I don't like this; I never wanted to go back to Sunnydale ever again. But . . . I don't want to see that future either, so . . . so I guess I'm in."

Katie grinned happily, a sigh of relief escaping from her. "All right, then let's go," she said.

"Uh . . . Katie?" Angel said weakly. She turned around to face her father and he pointed towards the gardens, where the sunlight was clearly streaming into. She winced.

"Oh. Okay," she said, shrugging. "We'll go tonight."

"And in the meantime, we'll be packing up weapons and making a few calls," Angel said, but was pulling out his credit card, handing it over, to her astonishment, to Cordelia. "You two are going and getting you some stuff. I noticed you didn't bring anything," he added to Katie, who shrugged.

"What I brought with me is all that I own," she told him. "Well, that and a car, which I'm still learning how to drive," she added lamely.

Angel looked alarmed. "Not my classic," he protested. Katie gave him an awkward smile, then looked quickly at Cordelia.

"Okay, I think we should go," she said quickly.

"Good idea," Cordelia said with a laugh as they headed out the door. "So, I'm guessing the malls are wrecked in your time?" she asked. Katie stared at her. "That's just wrong."

Katie shook her head before looking at her father. "Man, you _really_ didn't exaggerate about her," she told him. Angel chuckled.

"Cordelia needs no embellishment."

"I'm beginning to learn that."


	5. A Family Together

**Time and Time Again**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: A Family Together

By the time that they got to Sunnydale, it was already after midnight and vampires were out on the prowl. Unfortunately, Katie had seen a lot worse in her time, which said volumes to her father about how bad exactly her future actually was.

The first stop was at the mansion on Crawford Street, where her parents had spent so many hours after his return from hell, where they set up refuge before heading over to her mother's house. Every moment that they got closer to the house, Katie felt her heart quicken with anticipation and anxiety. After four years of her being dead, she was going to see her mom again . . . she was going to see both of her parents together. It made a chill go down her spine as she sat in the car, waiting for her mother's house to come into sight.

When Angel finally pulled up to a particular house, Katie stared up at the house anxiously, about to get out when she noticed that her father wasn't moving. She frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

"She's not there," Angel replied quietly. "I don't think anybody's home."

"That doesn't make any sense; why wouldn't they be home?" Katie asked, frowning. It wasn't that she doubted her parents' ability to sense one another; it was just that she didn't understand why nobody would be home. After all, nothing gigantic was supposed to happen for quite some time, not for a few months, anyway.

But then, Katie thought in alarm, what if just by her coming back, things might have gotten messed up already and things were no longer in the order that they had happened in the original history? What if they were completely changed and her mother—

"Somebody's coming," Cordelia observed, nodding towards a car that was pulling into the driveway of the house that they were sitting in and Katie looked around to see where she was pointing at, her heart leaping into her chest as she recognised the passenger, who had grown very still as her head slowly whipped around to look at the Plymouth.

Angel's expression had grown soft the moment that he laid eyes on his soul mate, Katie watched as he climbed out of the car, heading up the walk. Jumping over the door, Katie hurried after him as she saw her mother Buffy Summers, just as beautiful as she ever was.

Her green eyes, which were the shape and colour of her own, were completely focused on Angel, torn between joy and apprehension as she stared into his brown ones, but pulled her gaze away, masking the joy that she felt seeing him there as a blond guy came up behind her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked rudely, not bothering to hide his dislike as he saw Angel.

"Who's that guy?" Katie whispered to Wesley, who, along with Cordelia and Gunn, had walked up behind her and were watching the ensouled vampire and Slayer interact.

"I think that might be Riley Finn," Wesley whispered back, glancing towards the blond guy. "He's—"

"Mom's boyfriend," Katie murmured, recognising the name. She had never met the man, but had heard him talked about enough from Xander and Willow. He'd left her a few months from now, marrying some girl named Sam. "The demon hunter that worked for the government. Great, he hasn't left yet?" she muttered darkly as Angel threw a dark look towards Riley before returning his attention towards his soul mate, giving her a warm smile.

"There's some things that we need to talk about," he told her, glancing towards Katie now, who looked at her mother as Buffy's attention was drawn to the rest of them. "A lot, actually."

Buffy looked annoyed. "Why is it that you never come around unless the world is in desperate need of saving and/or I'm in danger?" she demanded.

Angel looked pained. "Buffy . . ."

Katie, ignoring the imploring look from Wesley to stay where she was, moved forward to go and help out her father, trying to push the memories that went through her mind as she looked at her mother. Memories of seeing her dead at the hands of her enemies . . . there had been so much blood . . . Katie inwardly shivered, trying to shove the images aside as her parents looked towards her.

"Hi," she said brightly, smiling at Buffy, who looked at her in bewilderment. "I'm Katie. You must be Buffy."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed, looking thrown, but she accepted Katie's hand, looking perturbed as she glanced towards Angel now, giving him a questioning look.

"Katie's actually the reason that we're here," Angel explained quietly. "Can we go inside? There's actually a lot that we need to talk about and a lot that we need to tell you."

Riley didn't look too happy about this, Katie noticed, seeing the ugly look on his face as he glared at Angel. "Do you mind?" he demanded. "Mrs. Summers just got out of surgery not even a few hours ago. Do you think that she needs this now? Can't this wait?"

For the first time, Angel acknowledged Riley's words before he turned towards Buffy worriedly, his brown eyes focusing on her green ones. "Your mom was in surgery? Is she okay?"

Buffy's gaze softened and she nodded, smiling gratefully at him. "Yeah, she's okay," she answered. "She had this tumour thing, but the doctors said that she's going to be fine. She's out of danger now."

"Good," Angel said, relieved. "I'm sorry, I would have come before if I'd known and I wish that we'd come at a better time, but this unfortunately can't wait. I'm sorry, Buffy."

Katie watched as her parents looked at each other, grinning behind her father's back as Buffy nodded, motioning them into the house and closing the door behind her.

It was hours later when Katie found herself sitting in one of the chairs in the living room, her hands lying on her knees, which were curled up underneath her as she stared across the room, towards her parents. Buffy was staring at Angel with wide eyes and her eyes filled with a mixture of horror and shock as she absorbed everything that she had just been told. Riley was sitting next to his girlfriend, but it was clear from the look on his face that he was not happy about this situation and every so often, he would throw Angel a jealous look, annoyed that Buffy was paying him so much attention.

"I . . . I died?" Buffy whispered after a long moment, looking stunned. Angel nodded, glancing towards Katie for a moment. Katie shook her head at him, trying to get him to understand her silent message not to tell her about her just yet. Give her a few minutes to pull herself together before they delivered the last piece of news.

"That's what Katie said," Angel answered quietly. "And I think that she's telling the truth."

Buffy frowned. "What makes you so sure?"

"I trust her," Angel said simply. Buffy stole a glance across the room, towards Katie, and her identical green eyes narrowed slightly, clearly wondering what she had done or said to get him on her side. "Buffy, she's come all of this way just to save your life. Give her a break."

With a sigh, Buffy ran her fingers through her blonde tresses. "And your future is a world where demons roam free, humans are forced to fight and defend themselves, and you're a member of this band of rebels who sent you here to try and change the past? It sounds a little bit wonky to me," she said sceptically.

"It doesn't sound it . . . Buffy," Katie said, forcing herself to call her by her name instead of Mom, but it sounded so strange on her town. "It is wonky. Believe me, I didn't even think that my friend was going to be able to pull the spell off, but she managed it. It is literally a war zone. Los Angeles is in shambles, there's no food, no water, people are dying in the streets, families are separated, brother is fighting brother . . . well, you get the picture," Katie sighed.

"Yeah, I get it," Buffy said, shaking her head. "I just can't believe that just because I was brought back from the dead, it caused this big mess."

"Well, the way that future Giles explained it," Katie told her, "the first time that you died, it was natural. I mean, there was no mythical forces that caused you to come back. It was as normal as dying can be. But Willow used a massive amount of black magic and almost reversed the cosmos when she brought you back the second time . . . or will use," she added with a frown, "is going to us? You know, I've never been good with tenses."

"I think any of them will work, but to make things simpler, why don't you just talk in past tense," Wesley advised.

Katie nodded. "Anyway, it caused a disruption of power, which forced the First to regain control and start to grow more powerful. And then it became too powerful. We could hold it bay for only so long before it launched a full-out assault and war erupted throughout the world. There's too much destruction now and the First is too powerful. This is the only way that we can possibly save the future and make it safe for future generations," she said desperately, looking at her mother, whose gaze softened as she realised the weight that Katie was carrying.

Standing up, she moved away from her old and current boyfriends to sit down next to Katie, her arms moving around her in an almost protective way. Katie closed her eyes, relishing the feeling as memories swept through her memory. Her mother, holding her the same way that she was now after a nightmare woke her up, telling her that it was all going to be okay. Even though she was years younger than _her_ mother, she was still Katie's mother.

"It's okay," she said gently, brushing her dark hair out of her green eyes, smiling down at her. "We're going fix it . . . though I don't know how exactly we're going to do that."

"Simple," Katie said, her voice slightly muffled because it was buried in her mother's shoulder. "As long as we can keep you from dying when you go up against Glory, there's no problem. You don't die, you don't get resurrected, problem solved."

Angel chuckled, his brown eyes fixed upon the love of his life and his daughter from the future. "Somehow, I think it's going to be a little bit more complicated than that."

"Tell me about it," Katie agreed solemnly.

"We're just supposed to believe you, just like that?" Riley suddenly spoke for the first time since they had come into the house. Everyone looked around at her. "You just show up here out of the blue and drop this bomb on us and we're just supposed to accept it, just take your word for it?"

"In case you haven't noticed, bonehead, I'm trying to save your girlfriend here," Katie countered, slipping out between her mother's arms and standing up, ready to face off with him.

"Bonehead?" Riley repeated, annoyed. "Who do you think you are?"

Katie stuck her tongue out at him maturely, folding her arms across her chest as he stood up, but even though he was a lot taller than she was, Katie was the one who seemed more imposing.

"Let's just say," she replied, "that I'm a friend."

Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw her father chuckle quietly, but her mother stilled instantly and as Katie glanced her way, she saw something of suspicion in Buffy's eyes.

"Maybe we don't want friends like you," Riley shot back, aggravation written in his voice.

Katie only shrugged, glaring towards the male blond with cool annoyance. "I never said that I was yours," she pointed out. Riley sputtered a few incoherent words as Katie turned her back on him, looking towards her mother in amazement. "You're actually sleeping with this guy?"

"Watch it," Riley snapped at her. "You're lucky that I don't hit women—human women, anyway," he added under his breath. Katie just rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head as she went to her vacant seat, noting her mother's expression as she did so.

"What?" she asked, looking between her parents in curiosity. Angel said nothing, just kept his head bowed as Buffy looked his way. He nodded once at his soul mate, not saying a word as they exchanged looks. Her mother stood up, taking a few steps towards the window and staring out into the night sky. "Are you okay?"

Buffy turned back around and there was something in her eyes that hadn't been there before, something that Katie couldn't quite recognise, but the look on her face suggested that she was shaken.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I'm fine." But she never once removed her green eyes from Katie, though she turned her head towards Riley. "Look, Riley, I think that maybe you should probably go home, get some sleep. We'll meet up with Giles and the others tomorrow and plan our next phase of attack. We're gonna stop Glory . . . this time for good." She said this with such firmness that no one bothered to argue with her and Riley reluctantly stood up, though he didn't look at all happy about it.

"Are you all coming?" he asked, looking around at the members of A.I., plus Katie.

"No, there are a few more things that I need to discuss with them, Riley," Buffy said flatly. Riley pierced his lips together, obviously angry, and he strode off towards the door and Katie winced slightly as the door slammed behind him, causing a few of the pictures to shake in their frames.

Buffy said nothing, didn't even react to the way that her boyfriend left as she continued to stare at Katie, who shifted underneath her mother's scrutiny. "What?" she asked, wishing that she would stop looking at her like that or at least tell her why she was.

"You're my daughter?" Buffy whispered, looking as though she might start to cry.

To say that she was shocked would have been the understatement of the century, but Katie stared at her mother in surprise, astounded that she had figured it out without her saying so.

She felt her whole body trembling as Buffy took a step towards her, looking at Katie up and down as the half-vampire slowly slid off of the couch, staring at the face of her long-dead mother.

"Mom . . ." she whispered and without thinking, her arms went around Buffy, holding her tightly and she felt Buffy moving her arms around her. Both mother and daughter held on to each other tightly, both of them waging a war not to start crying as they clung to each other.

Feeling her father's arms moving around the two of them, Katie wiggled one of her arms out of the way to accept him into the embrace and even though her mother hesitated only for a moment, she laid her head onto her soul mate's chest, her eyes closing briefly as she allowed herself to be back into Angel's arms as he held both of his girls.

"I don't believe this," Buffy whispered as she stared at Katie with complete disbelief and amazement. "This is . . . this is incredible. And Giles is never going to believe this one. I mean, I don't think anybody could have ever thought that a vampire could have created a child. Even you said that it was impossible, mister," she said, giving Angel a playful shove.

Angel shrugged. "I thought that it was. There's rumours that half-vampire children can be created with a human mother, but I thought that's all that they were, rumours."

"That's because most half-vampires get themselves killed by the Watcher's Council before the age of thirteen," Katie said grimly.

Buffy laughed as she lifted Katie's chin, staring at her features with an amazed smile. "This is incredible," she whispered. "I mean, how many people can actually say that they've met their children years before they're even born?"

"Five," Katie said simply. "Six, tops."

Her parents laughed and Buffy shook her head, staring at Katie from every angle. "Oh, she looks like you, don't she?" she asked, looking at Angel with a smile. "The hair, the smile, something about the eyebrows . . ."

"A lot of hers you, though," Angel replied, smiling at Katie's embarrassment as she ducked her head, but she was grinning, too, feeling warmer and safer than she had in the longest time.

She had her family back.

And they were together.


End file.
